Cathy Horyn thinks bloggers should write about news, not opinion or criticism.
Diversity has been key in pushing certain fashion blogs and bloggers to the forefront: Tommy Ton for Jak and Jil, and his sharp eye / super zoomed in shots. The Man Repeller for her way with words — and for pulling off turbans and harem pants, even though she isn’t Aladdin. The Emperor’s Old Clothes’ acid sharp reviews that have me spluttering tea at my keyboard in laughter. Emily Weiss of Into the Gloss for doing in-depth beauty Q&As that go beyond a review of yet another mascara. Natalie Joos of Tales of Endearment and her endless photo slideshows that make me want to do vintage shopping marathons…
Me at my laptop during my Bluefly Closet Confessions shoot
The key to all of this though, is original content — be it in creating images of people, of clothes, of shops; procuring information through interviews; or expounding originality of thought — which in essence is the “opinion or criticism” that Horyn is referring to. When “opinion or criticism” is ACTUALLY engaging, I don’t see that as a bad thing.
I agree with Horyn about encouraging budding fashion bloggers to report on what’s out THERE; to seize the moment and really find out what’s going on in THEIR fashion world, and to blog about it through their eyes. Luckily for me because I live in London, that involves visiting the studios of a throng of interesting designers; and seeing shops, exhibitions, and a whole host of fashion-centric activity from which I can churn out a never-ending stream of blog posts that makes up much of what my blog Style Bubble is about.
I’d love to see points of view on localised fashion from all parts of the world — outside of the obvious cities. What about a local tailor who has been quietly making clothes for the past 30 years? A peculiar bric-a-brac shop that sometimes sells interesting antique clothing? A local archive of Halston gowns hidden away in a university in Texas? These are the sort of stories that could do with someone doing some light investigation on.
What makes for repetitive viewing are reblogged stories from bigger news sources, or commenting on the same set of celebrity images that get syndicated over and over again. This is content creation that can be done purely confined in a bedroom and, despite the size of the WWW, can be a narrow view of fashion if you’re looking to create content that purely relies on other blogs and sites.
It might take longer to go out there, arrange a visit with a designer, take the photos, and come home to write and edit, but the content will be so much more worthwhile and engaging for readers. I may use the internet as a platform for communication, but that shouldn’t mean the origin of content is restricted to the internets too.
